CTRL + ALT + DELETE Cyber Bullying Seminar Documentation

A DOCUMENTATION For the course requirements of Media Laws & Ethics class under

Elgene Feliciano

submitted by

BEA BIANCA CANETE ALYSSAH HANNA LUCMAN DONNA LEANN SEAT ANGELA JED SILVESTRE SOPHIE YANG

WHAT IS

cyber bullying

According to Stop Cyber Bullying Organization, Cyber Bullying is when a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones. Cyber Bullying has not really gotten much attention among Filipino until few years ago. And now, cyber bullying is getting serious issue in the Philippines.

Our group decided on cyber bullying for our advocacy because we

accessed by a believe that in the digital world of today, when everything can be in a name, there simple click, when people can connect with others just by typing also abuse are a lot of people who not only take advantage of this power, but that a lot of it. The Internet Age is becoming scarier and scarier due to the fact s. people use the Internet as a platform for inflicting hurt on other We, as children of the Internet Age, have born witness to many acts of

bullying throughout our lives, as toddlers, as children, and even as teens. But none of use has ever seen bullying as intense as cyber bullying. More and more people everyday are being bullied online. And more and more are becoming the bullies, without even realizing it.

We do not wish to hinder peoples’ rights to freedom of expression, but

what we, as advocates of anti-cyber bullying, want to do is to inform people of the ways they can use social media responsibly. We also wanted to learn and share with as much people as we could the negative after-effects experienced by people who have been cyber bullied because we also personally know of a number of people who have also experienced being cyber bullied.

According to a study done in Miriam College

79 out of 100

students dont feel safe on the internet

The desire that people have to pass judgment on others should not prevent the possibility of reserving that judgmen t when the facts are not established. And it’s important to remember that som e viral videos (such as the “Amalayer” video) often fail to convey the true situatio n in which comments are made.

FOR THE EVENT

e-celebrities like Ramon Originally we had planned to invite

about their experiences with online Bautista and Lourd De Veyra to talk Bully Project to further promote our fame and its pitfalls. Along with The inquiries. Later on, we thought it our to lied rep not had y the but cy, advoca on uld make for a more valid seminar wo it and g stin ere int re mo be uld wo g. sts who were victims of cyber bullyin cyber bullying if we had invited gue s vosa. We have also invited writer Ero Most notably, Chris Lao and Paula Sal of social media.

Atalia to talk about responsible use

CTRL+ALT+DELETE CYBER BULLYING: A seminar on bullying in the new age was held on February 22, 2013 1:30-3:00 pm at the SMT Conference Room.

We approached the first year coordinators to provide us with an audience, and asked help from student organizations like SANGGU and Communication Society to help in promoting our event. It had a good turnout and the school publication, ChiRho even covered the event.

The group with the guest speakers, Eros Atalia and Paula Salvosa.

an interview with chris lao

We could not get Chris Lao for the event, happy as he is to come and talk about cyber bullying. So instead, we invited him to Miriam College on February 16 for an oncamera interview to be shown at the event. He had a lot to say about the matter, and what he imparted with us were relevant, informative and thought provoking.

Chris Lao came to viral video infamy when he attempted to drive through a flooded part of Quezon City and was interviewed and featured on a newscast back in 2011. He is probably more notably known as the guy who was “not informed”. Ever since the incident, he has been subject to many criticisms and mean comments from netizens, making him the subject of memes that permeated the internet. Since then, he has learned to embrace this bizarre experience and speaks up about the cyber bullying he has gone through.

We began by asking him about his side of the story, and then eased into how he coped with it and how important a bill on cyber bullying or bullying would be for the Philippines. He was very affected by the experience, and still is.

“I’M STILL IN RECOVERY.”

We asked him what his position was on cyber bullying before this event had happened to him, and how has it changed since then and he answered that he had always been respectful of other people. “I didn’t believe in degrading others before and now.”

Lao claimed that there was a lack of support from the government and institutions to fight anti-bullying, as compared to other countries that even dedicate a month for anti-bullying or bullying awareness.

“PERO TAYO, WALA TAYONG GANON, NOT EVEN ORGANIZATIONS. WALA DIN TAYONG LAWS IN PLACE, PERO UNG DEPED MAY ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY THAT ALSO HAS AN ANTI-BULLYING THRUST, SIGURO TO FILL IN THE GAPS HABANG WALA PANG LAW. IT IS CALLED CHILD PROT ECTIO N POLICY. IT’S A BIT BROAD, BUT IT COVERS PROTECTING CHILDREN AGAINST BULLYING. PERO ANG TANONG KO, PAANO KUNG MAG-CHANGE NA UNG ADMINISTRATION? UNLIKE A LAW THAT HAS SOME SORT OF PERMANENCE, ITONG ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY IS SUBJECT TO THE WHIMS OF THE ADMINISTRATION. MAGANDA NA MAY ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY, PERO PAANO KUNG PAGKAALIS NI AQUINO? YUN YUNG PROBLEMA. SO KULA NG NA KULA NG!”

He stressed the importance of an anti-bullying law, stating that with such a law in place, schools and authorities would know how to handle cases of bullying in schools.

“SOME SCHOOLS THINK THAT IT IS A RITE OF PASSAGE AS OPPOSED TO IT BEING WRONG. SO PAG MAY LUMAPIT NA ESTUDYANTE NA SINASABING NA-BULLY SIYA, THEY WILL SAY THAT IT’S NORMAL; THAT IT’S A RITE OF PASSAGE AS OPPOSED TO IT BEING WRONG; IT SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED; IT IS CONDONED.” He explains further how bullying victims are treated vis-a-vis his own experiences.

“ITO UNG SINABI SA AKIN: ‘SANA DI MO NA LANG BINASA’ [UNG MGA COMMENTS] EH DI SANA DI NA LANG AKO NAG-ACCESS NG INTERNET. IF YOU DON’T WANT ME TO SEE THESE COMMENTS, THEN YOU DON’T WANT ME TO ACCESS THE INTERNET. BECAUSE I WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS, I WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE. THE ONLY EFFECTIVE MEANS NA DI KO MABABASA IYAN IS DI AKO GAGAMIT NG INTERNET. IN EFFECT, AKO YUNG PINAPARUSAHAN. WHEN IN FACT KARAPATAN KONG GUMAMIT NG INTERNET. SILA ANG WALANG KARAPATAN NA MAG-ABUSO NG IBANG TAO.”

He criticizes the victim-blaming approach that is deterrent towards curbing bullying.

O, HINDI YUNG BIKTIMA NA SIYA YUNG “DAPAT YUNG INAADDRESS MO YUNG BULLYING MISM ELF HERSELF, TO BE FREE. WALA MAGAADJUST. KASI KARAPATAN NIYANG IEXPRESS HIMS Y ELSE, SO PROTECTED IYON BY LAW, NAM ANG MASAMA EH. SHE DOESN’T INJURE SOM EBOD HINDI PROTECTED AY YUNG INJURIOUS BYT HE CONSTITUTION, THAT KIND OF FREEDOM. ANG YING. IYON UNG IADDRESS MO.” EXERCISE OF SOM EBODY ELSE’S FREEDOM, LIKE BULL

We can address it through the following means: first, we can cease to be passive

bystanders. Most people are passive bystanders because they do not want to be bully or bullied, so they just endure the bullying and abuse that happens around them in silence.

By ceasing to be passive bystanders, we can take a stand against bullying. Second, we can spread awareness and educate people that it’s wrong, and it should not be tolerated.

Lastly, we can lobby for legal safeguards to be in place.

We also delved into the cybercrime prevention act with Lao in passing, considering

his position and experiences with the cyber world, we thought he would have something interesting to say. He agrees with the penalties for e-libel, considering that the Internet has characteristics that make it different from libel done in print. E-libel is more accessible and more public and it has more permanence, as opposed to libel done in print.

In the end, he reminded us that “History is replete with examples of people who

committed suicide by virtue of bullying.” We can change this if we all worked together to take a stand against bullying.

talks from the event (highlights)

PAULA SALVOSA

Our first guest had been the most recent object of intense cyber bullying due to the highly sensationalized “Amalayer” viral video that circulated last November 2012. Paula Salvosa shared with us her experiences of the after-math of the cyber-bullying fiasco she underwent. She began her talk by telling us about her side of the “Amalayer incident”. Just like any other person, she had a bad day in which a certain number of things occurred simultaneously had been too much for her.

She then went on to tell us about what happened after; how she had gone home thinking nothing was amiss, how when at about 1:00 AM the night of the incident, she had began receiving calls and texts from family and friends asking her if she’s the girl on the video shouting “Amalayer!?” Paula went on to tell us of how she handled the situation; by first deactivating all her social media sites (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

For a while, Paola said, she did not attend school or leave her house for fear of being bombarded by people about the incident. She also informed us that her school, La Consolacion College, was very supportive of her and helpful throughout the whole fiasco.

Currently, she is a graduating student at La Consolacion College.

EROS ATALIA Eros Atalia is a Filipino contemporary writer.

Among his famous works are, “Ligo Na U, Lapit Na Me”, “Peksman (mamatay ka man) Nagsisinungaling Ako”, “Wag Lang Di Makaraos: 100 Dagli (Mga Kwentong Pasaway, Paaway at Pamatay)” and many others. He finished Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Filipino in Philippine Normal University in 1996 and Master of Arts in Language and Literature – Filipino in De La Salle University – Manila in 2008. Currently, he is a Research Associate in Research Cluster on Culture, Education and Social Issues, professor of Filipino and Filipino Journalism in the Faculty of Arts and Letters, and Creative Writing in the Graduate School in University of Santo Tomas.

Eros Atalia started his speech with a punch line, affirming that he is a writer but having been invited and attended 15 different talks since January, he felt like he was more of a “talker” than a writer. Atalia described the cyber space and the people in it. He compared it with how people work in a community where everyone has a responsibility they have to shoulder. According to him, in cyber space, people who have access to it should be responsible enough for their actions because each action might affect others.

He then added that people in cyber space are more bold and daring when

of it comes to posting their comments and opinions about other people because ted anonymity of their identities. However, he explained that people who are educa why and are able to cogitate over a situation should be the ones who understand what certain people act that way in cyber space and should make a way to change needs to be changed in the society.

During the open-forum, Atalia was asked by one of the audience member

zations about his stand on Cyber crime Act of 2012. As a member of different organi ne of professional writers, he firmly believed that anything which prohibits someo ers especially writers like him of their freedom of expression is something he consid unjust and unconstitutional. He reiterated that one victim of cyber bullying would sion not suffice to control and penalize others over their rights of freedom of expres and of speech.

n io t c e l f e r p u o r g r ou of the event

Prior to our group’s interview with Chris Lao, our concept of cyber bullying was somewhat shallow. We thought it was something overblown by series of issues involving private people being criticized by the others because of their actions however, it was deeper than that.

Chris Lao endured the emotional and mental effects of cyber bullying.

As a result, he is still under medication and is still experiencing the physical repercussions from it. The group agrees with him that there is a need for a law on this matter, so that schools and moreover, individuals will know how to deal with it. A group member of ours can relate and can attest to it that school administrations fail to notice the severe effects of cyber bullying to student victims.

The same group member confided that what happened to her in Miriam College almost lead her to decide not to go to school anymore. She was not able to get the guidance counsellor’s help to mediate; instead she was advised to look for someone else to mediate. She was making an effort to end the conflict as she does not want to hear negative comments from the students but then, the school failed to help her out of her dilemma. Aside from our group mate, there are other Miriam College students who were cyber bullied but were not able to do anything about the matter. In such cases, we truly believe that a law which would specifically address cyber bullying is necessary to maintain the peace and harmony a student deserves. Let’s give each student an opportunity to maximize what they can get from school, because such situations can deprived them of doing and showing their best in school.

Lao differentiated Anti-Bullying Act of 2012 from Cyber crime Act of 2012 and relate cyber bullying with other matters of law such as the rights of privacy, slander and libel. From here, the group grasped the idea that laws are interconnected. In a situation, many laws can be violated by the suspect. As a victim and as a lawyer, he is for the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. For him, it could be an answer in making the people responsible for their actions in cyber space. The punishment for e-libel is necessary in the act as it will give justice to the people proven to be victims of cyber crimes.

The case is different with Eros Atalia, a journalist and a writer. He has talked about how the bigger a commodity is, the less people want to take responsibility for it. He is against the Cybercrime Prevention Act because for him, it will greatly affect their freedom of expression and of speech as writers. To quote, “Hindi purkit may nasagasan ibig sabihin isasarado mo na ang daanan.” However, he believed that there is a need for us to be responsible with what we do online, and how we use the cyber space. We shouldn’t distant ourselves from the problem, because we are ultimately part of it. If we want to make a change, then we should start with ourselves and just do it.

Truly, the cyber space is part of the fast growing technology that affects our lives both online and offline. All of us carry a big responsibility to use it wisely and by doing so, certain laws could help us achieve our goal to be liable of our actions in the cyber space. Let’s remember that cyber space is not in existence for us to mock and make fun of other people, to make someone look bad over thousands of people who have access to it and to execute crimes. The cyber space is a place where we can be better human beings, let us use it in our own good and for the good of others who are also part of the cyber space community. We can make cyber space a medium where we can inspire, make a difference and show humanity in the world we live in.